Huawei opens largest cyber security center to address rising risks

CHINESE multinational technology company Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. unveiled its largest Global Cyber Security and Privacy Protection Transparency Center on Wednesday, aimed at addressing the surge in new cybersecurity risks.

“As an industry, we need to work together, share best practices, and build our collective capabilities in governance, standards, technology, and verification. We need to give both the general public and regulators a reason to trust in the security of the products and services they use on a daily basis,” Huawei Rotating Chairman Ken Hu said at virtual opening ceremony of the center in Dongguan, China.

At an online briefing on Thursday, Wang Zheng, global cybersecurity and privacy officer at Huawei, was asked if the company also plans to put up smaller transparency centers in the Philippines, India, and Nepal.

“Actually, it doesn’t matter where our data center is situated. What matters is we have a center where we can provide our support and services to local customers wherever they are in India or the Philippines,” he said.

Apart from the Dongguan center, Huawei also has transparency centers in Belgium, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

“Over the past few years, industry digitalization and new technologies like 5G and AI have made cyberspace more complex than ever, compounded by the fact that people have been spending a greater portion of their lives online throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. These trends have led to a rise in new cybersecurity risks,” Huawei said in a statement.

“Huawei opened the new Global Cyber Security and Privacy Protection Transparency Center in Dongguan to address these issues, providing a platform for industry stakeholders to share expertise in cyber governance and work on technical solutions together,” it added.

The company said the center will be opened to regulators, independent third-party testing organizations, standards organizations, as well as its customers, partners, and suppliers.

Huawei also released on Wednesday its “Product Security Baseline.”

“This is the first time we’ve shared our security baseline framework with the entire industry, not just core suppliers,” said Sean Yang, director of Huawei’s Global Cyber Security and Privacy Protection Office.

“We want to invite all stakeholders, including customers, regulators, standards organizations, technology providers, and testing organizations, to join us in discussing and working on cybersecurity baselines. Together, we can continuously improve product security across the industry,” he added. — Arjay L. Balinbin